Final answer:
Gunpowder was first used as a weapon in China in 919. Chinese armies used tubes made of bamboo to fire projectiles at their opponents. By the thirteenth century, the Chinese were forging cannons from bronze.
Step-by-step explanation:
The first recorded use of gunpowder in battle occurred in China in 919. Gunpowder was invented as a by-product of experiments conducted by Chinese alchemists. A painting from Dunhuang in western China depicts a figure holding a tube from which flames are issuing forth. In 1126, a Chinese army was described as using similar tubes made of bamboo to fire projectiles. Only six years later, another Chinese army made use of a bamboo cannon on wheels to destroy the walls of a city to which they had laid siege.